112. Born Mountain Lord, Strong in Body and Spirit

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Chen Jue somewhat regretted drinking with A Biao. Once this fellow got drunk, he began spouting utter nonsense, turning into a real maniac in the local restaurant.

It was not the kind of drunken rampage that involved smashing things. He simply grew louder and louder as he spoke, perhaps because the burdens he had suppressed for so long were finally being released.

Seeing that things were taking a turn for the worse, Chen Jue could only settle the bill, hoist Wang Biao onto his back, and hurry out of the small town.

Since both of them had been drinking, Chen Jue did not drive Wang Biao’s car. Instead, he carried the nearly two-hundred-pound young man all the way along the mountain road at a brisk pace.

With Chen Jue’s current strength and stamina, carrying a drunken adult for several miles through the mountains was naturally no problem.

After all, he still had a seventy-kilogram weight set at home!

Before his Strength attribute had broken through 2.0, Chen Jue had already carried that seventy-kilogram load around the reservoir at a slow jog. Now that his Strength had reached 2.94 and was nearly breaking through 3.0, carrying a two-hundred-pound Wang Biao was hardly worth mentioning.

…

When they returned to the old residence in Wa Village, Chen Jue settled Wang Biao in bed. He himself felt slightly tipsy, so he went into the courtyard and practiced Taiji stance work for a while, letting the alcohol in his body evaporate through his sweat. Only then did he take a hot shower and go inside to sleep.

The next morning, after sleeping until a little past eight, Wang Biao—who had drunk himself senseless the night before—forced himself out of bed. Compared with Chen Jue’s energetic appearance, Wang Biao looked utterly listless.

That was what happened when one got drunk and rose the next day. Alcohol inflicted irreversible, chronic damage on the brain, and such harm was extremely difficult to recover from.

If the two of them had not spoken so openly the day before, baring their hearts to one another for so long after the tiger incident, Chen Jue probably would not have accompanied Wang Biao in drinking so much.

After washing up, the two of them slowly walked toward town while chatting, ate breakfast there, and then climbed into Wang Biao’s SUV to head for Gongshan Scenic Area.

Chen Jue had not really wanted to visit crowded tourist attractions. With that time, he would rather have gone deep into the mountains and forests to search for medicinal herbs and practice his martial arts.

However, unable to resist his roommate’s insistence—and knowing that Wang Biao meant well and was simply being warmhearted—Chen Jue accompanied him on the trip.

…

The SUV traveled along the main road. On one side flowed the emerald-green Nujiang River; on the other rose towering, verdant mountains.

Tall broadleaf trees stood in dense groves along the roadside. Far away, majestic and sacred snow peaks pierced the heavens, while the slightly warm golden sunlight of morning streamed into the vehicle, filling the two grown men with ease and pleasure.

Wang Biao did not smoke today. The alcohol from the night before had probably helped him vent the pressure in his heart. Although he was still not at his best after getting drunk, his eyes shone brightly, filled with hope for the life ahead.

Chen Jue reclined the passenger seat and admired the scenery around Gongshan through the window. Along the way, he asked Wang Biao whether he knew anything about the Dulong River and the Dulong people.

Wang Biao naturally told him everything he knew, adding several legends he had heard while growing up in the area.

The Dulong people, he said, revered the mountain gods. Every year, on certain festivals presided over by a female shaman, they slaughtered cattle as offerings to Heaven. They also drank a bamboo-tube liquor known as Shared-Heart Wine, preserving ritual customs of an extremely ancient and primitive nature.

Chen Jue had already found most of this information online and had even watched related recordings, so he did not take it particularly seriously.

But when Wang Biao mentioned that, according to a distant Dulong legend, every few centuries there would appear someone born with the ability to communicate with mountain gods and wild beasts—a natural-born Mountain Lord—Chen Jue immediately sat bolt upright.

“Really? A natural-born Mountain Lord?”

At those words, the first thing Chen Jue recalled was the girl with the carrying basket whom he had glimpsed beside the river in the deep mountains that day.

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“How would I know? My grandparents told me those stories when I was little. They were old Lisu people who had grown up in the mountains, and they loved rambling on about strange and bizarre legends.”

“So what if someone can communicate with animals? It’s not some supernatural power! Isn’t that what animal trainers do at the zoo? They use food to entice animals into performing. It’s a skill, a technique. It’s the same as raising cats or dogs—feed them until they become familiar with you, and naturally they grow close to people. Ancient people were ignorant and didn’t know how to expose the trick, so they were fooled every time.”

“That big tiger you brought back yesterday—isn’t that the same principle as animal training?”

“When I get home, I’ll tell my son. The next time you visit, I’ll have him make you, Uncle Old Cat, demonstrate how to tame a big cat in person!”

With both hands on the steering wheel, Wang Biao teased him dismissively.

When Chen Jue heard that he would apparently have to pretend to be an animal trainer and curry favor with Biao’s son—payment, as it were, for keeping quiet about his smuggling home a wild tiger—he felt speechless. Yet after thinking about it carefully, he had to admit that Wang Biao’s words were not without reason.

As mentioned earlier, traveling performers and street entertainers who performed stunts such as smashing stones on their chests or breaking bricks with their bare hands often relied on principles of physics. Animal-training performances had also been nothing unusual in ancient times. Street performers trained monkeys and dogs, and some even trained parrots to tell fortunes and read people’s faces.

Still, Chen Jue silently committed the term “natural-born Mountain Lord” to memory. The next time he encountered the girl with the carrying basket, he was determined to have a proper conversation with her.

It would be much like his earlier exchanges with Master Li Xiangning, heir to the Boat Boxing tradition. Ever since awakening the Attribute Panel and developing a body of martial skills and Daoist internal alchemy, Chen Jue had gradually developed a greater sense of anticipation and curiosity toward strange people and unusual happenings.

…

When they reached Gongshan Scenic Area, the number of tourists was frightening. Fortunately, Wang Biao knew of a secluded route within the park and took Chen Jue around to see the sights.

Gongshan’s main peak was called Gawagapu Peak, rising to an altitude of 5,128 meters. Seen up close, it appeared as though it had been carved by the gods themselves—majestic and magnificent.

Within the scenic area, jade-green river waters surged onward, verdant mountains rose in luxuriant layers, towering trees flourished everywhere, and streams murmured over their beds. White, green, blue, and gold intertwined before their eyes, while the cries of apes and songs of birds mingled in their ears. It was like a paradise on earth, leaving both Chen Jue and Wang Biao refreshed and delighted, repeatedly proclaiming that the journey had been well worth it.

By three in the afternoon, Wang Biao was so exhausted that he could barely walk. As an office worker who also spent every day laboring over his family, his physical condition was only slightly better than Chen Jue’s had been when he worked in Hangzhou.

Panting heavily, he followed Chen Jue out of the scenic area and back to the car. They then began driving toward Baoshan City.

Seeing that Chen Jue had not once gasped for breath throughout the entire trip—and remembering how Chen Jue had carried him all the way from the town back to Wa Village while he had been barely conscious with drink—Wang Biao actually retained a few hazy fragments of memory.

After spending two days together, he felt that he understood his university roommate less and less.

Then there had been the whole tiger incident. In Wang Biao’s eyes, Chen Jue seemed to radiate mystery from every direction. Yet Chen Jue’s temperament was gentle, making people instinctively want to draw close to him. Combined with the friendship between them, Wang Biao had never pressed him for answers.

After all, everyone was entitled to a few little secrets of their own. Having someone dig into every last detail was hardly a pleasant thing.

…

After two days of relaxation, Wang Biao—one among countless family-minded men—had to hurry back to face the petty struggles of daily life. Unlike Chen Jue, he was neither carefree nor unfettered; he had to clock in at work again the next morning.

As for Chen Jue, he got out of the car when they passed through the small town below Wa Village. He waved goodbye to Wang Biao and did not ask him to stay for a meal, fearing that it would delay him from returning home to his wife and child.

Two days and one night together had deepened their friendship considerably. Even after Chen Jue had brought back a tiger—a matter of immense seriousness—Wang Biao had not revealed anything to outsiders. It was the trust shared between roommates, and one of the few friendships Chen Jue treasured deeply.

…

After watching Wang Biao drive away, Chen Jue ate dinner in town before returning to the old residence in Wa Village.

His friend had gone back to continue struggling through his life, while Chen Jue’s days of training and cultivation had to continue as well. That was simply how life was: seemingly ordinary and disordered, yet always pressing forward.

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Although he had lost two days and one night, Chen Jue did not feel that he had wasted his time. Instead, the respite had relaxed both his body and mind, which had been kept perpetually taut by his solitary explorations deep in the mountains and forests.

The way of letters and arms required both tension and release.

Back in the earthen-walled house, Chen Jue took out his phone and began reviewing the information. The two newly awakened statuses—[Golden Bell Body] and [Tiger Roar ??]—had already pointed him toward the direction of his next stage of cultivation.

Besides the two Golden Bell techniques in the database that he could try practicing, Chen Jue also intended to take up Dragon-Chanting Iron-Cloak. He wanted to see what miraculous combined effects this hardening art would produce with Tiger-Roar Golden Bell once he had perfected it.

It was much like the previously awakened [Peerless Protector]. It had somehow received an enhancement from Childish Skill, causing all of Chen Jue’s attributes to surge.

In addition, he had not forgotten to practice Great Circulation, the internal alchemy technique. However, because increasing this technique triggered such a powerful siphoning effect, Chen Jue could only rely on himself for the time being, slowly circulating his qi and blood to advance its proficiency.

…

After studying the materials for an hour, Chen Jue felt that he had thoroughly mastered the methods.

He went into the courtyard and began with Dragon-Chanting Iron-Cloak, followed by Shaolin Golden Bell and Iron-Arm Golden Bell. Practicing all three hardening arts at once, he spent less than half an hour recording them into the panel and forming them into new skills.

Dragon-Chanting Iron-Cloak was a hardening technique from the Wudang Taihe School. Supported by the double buffs of [Immortal Lü’s Enlightenment] and [Peerless Protector], its progress advanced at astonishing speed.

This hardening art also employed sound to strengthen the internal organs, making it remarkably similar to Tiger-Roar Golden Bell, which likewise tempered the viscera.

As for Shaolin Golden Bell and Iron-Arm Golden Bell, they were similarly influenced by the combined effects of [Golden Bell Body] and [Peerless Protector]. Their practice was scarcely slower than Dragon-Chanting Iron-Cloak.

By eleven that night, Chen Jue had successfully raised all three newly learned hardening arts to Level 1.

During the process, he spent 0.03 attribute points to forcefully pull up the final ten points of proficiency he lacked.

The siphoning effect produced by all three hardening arts breaking through Level 1 at the same time was extremely powerful. Yet compared with the situation in which adding ten points of proficiency to Great Circulation had nearly drained Chen Jue dry, it was still worlds apart.

With the nutritional drinks and restorative medicines he had brought along, Chen Jue easily overcame this minor hurdle.

As for his attributes, Intelligence remained unchanged, while Strength and Constitution each increased by 0.9. Agility rose by 0.3, and his Health Index climbed to 140%.

“The more I train, the more I’m turning into a muscle-bound brute!”

Chen Jue could not help complaining inwardly. With his mind perfectly clear, he could feel that after practicing the three new hardening arts, his body had grown increasingly powerful and robust.

This time, however, he did not burst through his loose exercise clothes. Instead, the strength began developing from the outside inward, gradually reinforcing his internal organs, bones, and fascia. His body was becoming more harmonious, rather than merely accumulating muscle without end.

Chapter six for today! I typed this chapter at two in the morning last night, and my consciousness was practically fading out of existence. Facepalm.

End of Chapter